1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solid state optical sources, more specifically it relates to solid state optical sources with a wide bandwidth.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solid state optical sources are used in communications involving fiber optics. The number of channels carried by a fiber is increased through wavelength multiplexing. Wavelength multiplexing requires the use of a wide bandwidth optical source.
Typical solid state optical sources have a full width at half maximum (FWHM) bandwidth of 100 nm or less. A band width of 100 nm or less is insufficient for adequate wavelength multiplexing. One possible solution is to combine several solid state optical sources having slightly different wavelengths to achieve the desired bandwidth. Arranging several solid state optical sources so that they interface to a small diameter optical fiber is cumbersome and is unreliable. Another possible solution is to use a white light source, such as a lamp, in combination with a notched filter. This solution suffers from the disadvantages of size, weight and high power consumption.